Narrative:

Getting closer to indianapolis; strong thunderstorm cells quickly grew and were getting solid purple radar returns all around the airport. We had been given several re-routes by ATC to get us around the south and then west side of the airport; but it became clear that the approach path was blocked off by a large cell; so we slowed down and maneuvered to hold to let the weather pass from the approach path. We started to become task saturated at this point with planning for a possible diversion. The captain was coordinating with dispatch and doing new fuel calculations because of the re-routes while I established us in the hold. After only one turn ATC turned us back toward the airport to plan for the runway 5L ILS and told us to increase speed to 250 kts and descend (I believe all the way down to 3000 ft; but I can't remember if there were any steps in between that). We were now able to get a clear radar picture facing the airport and there were large purple cells to the north and south of the approach course and north; east; southeast; and south of the airport. On the descent; going through a layer of cloud; called for stall protection ice speeds. So while the captain was adding those in the FMS; I asked him if 'we are the first one's attempting to come in'; so he asked ATC. We were following an aircraft established on the final course; who reported the ride conditions. Then ATC told another aircraft to break off the approach but at the time; we believed it was the aircraft in front of us. I was distracted by all this and did not remember that we were still doing 250 kts. Now; getting close to the FAF at oinkk; we were still very high (I can't remember the exact altitude; but I believe close to 3000 ft) and fast so we dropped the gear and attempted to slow down. As we were passing oinkk; it was clear that the approach could not happen so we decided to execute a high altitude go-around with gear down and no flaps extended (already very near the missed altitude). I pressed toga button; called go-around; flaps (distracted because I remembered we didn't have flaps in) and then became fixed by the purple storms on right and left. We brought the gear up and then I became aware that I was falling behind the aircraft. My instinct was to turn off the autopilot in order maneuver the aircraft between the storms to the northeast side if the airport to intercept the missed approach procedure. With all of these distractions I realized next that my speed was rapidly increasing; since we began the missed approach already above vfs. I pulled the throttles back over the autothrottle to not exceed 250 kts and that's when I realized I was climbing. By this point the captain had told ATC about the high-alt go-around and ATC told us to maintain 5000 ft and turn 360 heading. We were already ascending through approximately 4400 ft so by the time I could react and get some trim in to help me; momentum carried us up to approximately 5600 ft. I took approximately 5-6 seconds to level off there and begin descend and another approximately 15-20 secs to get to 5000 ft. Now the aircraft was under control flying north and level at 5000 ft; slowing down as well. We were thinking about our fuel at this point and the storms and the captain advised ATC we could attempt one more approach if they could sequence them immediately and without delay. They offered us runway 14 and I agreed to that since it was the furthest final course from the storm cells. I slowed the aircraft to 210 kts while the captain loaded the FMS with a vectored ILS 14 and confirmed approach speeds. We were vectored onto final and completed the rest of the flight without incident. 1) pilot flying (as first officer) should have been more focused on flying the plane rather than dividing attention between the fuel; diversion; weather and flying responsibilities.2) asked ATC for alternate missed approach instructions before beginning approach; after getting a clear picture of the weather or advised of high altitude go-around (being already at or near 3000 ft)3) in training; all of our go-arounds are from minimums or close to so that the aircraft cleanup can happen. Muscle memory took me to the flaps but being distracted by the fact that they were already up; I began to fall behind the aircraft. Maybe we can practice a high altitude go-around in training or recurrent training to at least give pilots some awareness to the pitfalls of such a rapid event.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported a missed approach on the ILS Runway 5L to IND due to a combination of weather and poor approach planning. The crew reported a second approach to the ILS Runway 14 was successful.

Narrative: Getting closer to Indianapolis; strong thunderstorm cells quickly grew and were getting solid purple radar returns all around the airport. We had been given several re-routes by ATC to get us around the south and then west side of the airport; but it became clear that the approach path was blocked off by a large cell; so we slowed down and maneuvered to hold to let the weather pass from the approach path. We started to become task saturated at this point with planning for a possible diversion. The Captain was coordinating with dispatch and doing new fuel calculations because of the re-routes while I established us in the hold. After only one turn ATC turned us back toward the airport to plan for the Runway 5L ILS and told us to increase speed to 250 kts and descend (I believe all the way down to 3000 ft; but I can't remember if there were any steps in between that). We were now able to get a clear radar picture facing the airport and there were large purple cells to the North and South of the approach course and N; E; SE; and S of the airport. On the descent; going through a layer of cloud; called for Stall Protection Ice Speeds. So while the captain was adding those in the FMS; I asked him if 'we are the first one's attempting to come in'; so he asked ATC. We were following an aircraft established on the final course; who reported the ride conditions. Then ATC told another aircraft to break off the approach but at the time; we believed it was the aircraft in front of us. I was distracted by all this and did not remember that we were still doing 250 kts. Now; getting close to the FAF at OINKK; we were still very high (I can't remember the exact altitude; but I believe close to 3000 ft) and fast so we dropped the gear and attempted to slow down. As we were passing OINKK; it was clear that the approach could not happen so we decided to execute a high altitude go-around with gear down and no flaps extended (already very near the missed altitude). I pressed TOGA button; called go-around; flaps (distracted because I remembered we didn't have flaps in) and then became fixed by the purple storms on right and left. We brought the gear up and then I became aware that I was falling behind the aircraft. My instinct was to turn off the autopilot in order maneuver the aircraft between the storms to the NE side if the airport to intercept the missed approach procedure. With all of these distractions I realized next that my speed was rapidly increasing; since we began the missed approach already above Vfs. I pulled the throttles back over the autothrottle to not exceed 250 kts and that's when I realized I was climbing. By this point the captain had told ATC about the High-Alt go-around and ATC told us to maintain 5000 ft and turn 360 heading. We were already ascending through approximately 4400 ft so by the time I could react and get some trim in to help me; momentum carried us up to approximately 5600 ft. I took approximately 5-6 seconds to level off there and begin descend and another approximately 15-20 secs to get to 5000 ft. Now the aircraft was under control flying north and level at 5000 ft; slowing down as well. We were thinking about our fuel at this point and the storms and the Captain advised ATC we could attempt one more approach if they could sequence them immediately and without delay. They offered us runway 14 and I agreed to that since it was the furthest final course from the storm cells. I slowed the aircraft to 210 kts while the captain loaded the FMS with a vectored ILS 14 and confirmed approach speeds. We were vectored onto final and completed the rest of the flight without incident. 1) Pilot flying (as FO) should have been more focused on flying the plane rather than dividing attention between the fuel; diversion; weather and flying responsibilities.2) Asked ATC for alternate missed approach instructions before beginning approach; after getting a clear picture of the weather or advised of high altitude go-around (being already at or near 3000 ft)3) In training; all of our go-arounds are from minimums or close to so that the aircraft cleanup can happen. Muscle memory took me to the flaps but being distracted by the fact that they were already up; I began to fall behind the aircraft. Maybe we can practice a high altitude go-around in training or recurrent training to at least give pilots some awareness to the pitfalls of such a rapid event.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.